UNRAVELING THE EXPECTATIONS GAP: AN ASSURANCE GAPS MODEL AND ILLUSTRATIVE APPLICATION

Abstract

The importance of alignment between users’ and providers’ expectations of accounting services has long been recognized as paramount in the auditing profession. The importance of expectations, and especially expectations gaps, is even more compelling for new assurance services, where the importance of marketing the service is pronounced. This paper develops the Assurance Gaps Model, which describes expectations gaps in general, defining these holistic differences between users’ and providers’ perceptions of assurance services as assurance gaps. The model suggests that assurance gaps really have a number of components – expectations, evaluations of performance and disconfirmation – all of which impact users’ satisfaction with the service. The magnitude of each of these components, as well as the emphasis placed on each one, is important in describing the nature of the gap. This model is consistent with previous research in auditing as well as a large body of research in marketing studying expectations and the satisfaction process (Oliver, 1997). To illustrate potential applications of the Assurance Gaps Model, hypotheses are developed and tested using an online simulation of the ElderCare assurance service proposed by the AICPA/CICA. Results indicate that users and providers demonstrate similar magnitude of each of the factors in the model, but differ in that users emphasize performance in forming satisfaction judgments while providers emphasize expectations. The study and results illustrate the usefulness of the model for performing detailed analysis of assurance gaps and for suggesting appropriate courses of action to manage the factors that contribute to them.

Citation

Gladden Burke, K., Kovar, S.E. and Prenshaw, P.J. (2004), "UNRAVELING THE EXPECTATIONS GAP: AN ASSURANCE GAPS MODEL AND ILLUSTRATIVE APPLICATION", Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research (Advances in Accounting Behavioural Research, Vol. 7), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 169-193. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1475-1488(04)07008-5